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Years 7-11 Students

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Curriculum Overview

The point of Religious Education is to look at how people think and why. Students of Religious Education will be religiously literate, they will be able to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religions and worldviews. They will be able to think independently, they are open minded and they will be able to respectfully discuss the many moral complexities that we face as a global society. To encourage these traits, we aim to create a safe, nurturing and academically challenging environment where beliefs, practices and issues are discussed with kindness and respect. We use purposeful assessment to explore knowledge and, more importantly, individual student’s ability to justify a point of view on an often-abstract idea. It is important to recognise that Religious Education is not a vehicle for promoting specific religious belief, but instead a chance to appreciate the complexity, diversity and evolving challenges faced by religion in the modern world. 

To fulfil this purpose, we advocate that RE needs to provide a balance between three disciplines or lenses. These are: Theology in Year 7, Anthropology in Year 8 and Philosophy in Year 9. 

Theology: This is about believing. It looks at where beliefs come from, how they have changed over time, how they are applied differently in different contexts and how they relate to each other. Students in Year 7 will engage with this through the study of the Abrahamic and Dharmic religions with a particular focus on Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism. We encompass our school value of courage when we explore the sacrifice and resilience shown by the Prophets Abraham and Moses. 

Anthropology/Social Sciences: This is about living. It explores the diverse ways in which people practise their beliefs. It engages with the impact of beliefs on individuals, communities, and societies. Students in Year 8 will build on the work done in Year 7 and apply their theological knowledge of the Abrahamic and Dharmic faiths to an anthropological study of these faith systems, for example the Prophet Moses is studied in Year 7 and in Year 8 the Passover is studied to show the impact that the Exodus has on Jewish life today.

Philosophy: This is about thinking. It is about finding out how and whether things make sense. It deals with questions of morality and ethics. It takes seriously the nature of reality, knowledge, and existence. In Year 9, our students will be given the opportunity to build on their knowledge and understanding of the aforementioned faiths and focus on looking at the questions that philosophers ask.

In Year 10, Religious Education is taught through the Citizenship carousel and pupils explore the beliefs and values found in Islam and Humanism.

At GCSE we follow the AQA syllabus and focus on Buddhist and Christian Theology. Through our study of the themes we look at the responsibilities we have to uphold the law and the importance of kindness in our work on Social Justice and War and Peace. 

Our A-level Philosophy qualification is designed to give our students a thorough grounding in the key concepts and methods of philosophy. Students have the opportunity to engage with big questions in a purely secular context. Our students will develop important skills that they need for progression to higher education. They’ll learn to be clear and precise in their thinking and writing. They will engage with complex texts, analysing and evaluating the arguments of others and constructing and defending their own arguments. They develop their resilience as they work through difficult concepts and learn to develop their thinking and writing.

Further Information:

Year Group Curriculum  

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